Kodiak Bloodlines - The Complete Series (6 page)

Nothing looked familiar. Where the hell was she?

She raked a hand through her hair remembering the earlier events.
Oh god, Jude. That man. The Kodiaks!
She placed a hand over her mouth as to not make any sounds. She swung her legs over the bed and her feet touched the wooden plank floor. She examined the room for a second. She was in some kind of cabin. There were three windows on three of the four walls. A small kitchenette, living room and the bed she was sitting on which was in the back corner.

The entire cabin looked to be the size of Lennox’s living room, maybe 800 square feet in size. Just as she was about to get up and bolt for the door, she felt a sharp pain run through her skull and her vision blurred again. She closed her eyes and ran her fingers up to her temples, quickly massaging them, trying to soothe the area. She opened her eyes again to see an older woman approaching the bed. Jordan quickly looked at the door, which was still closed and then back at the woman.

Jordan watched her pull a chair up a few feet in front of her. The woman was holding a tea cup and gestured for her to take it, but she quickly slapped it away and watched the contents spill on the floor and the cup roll to the other side of the room.

“Who are you? Where am I!” Jordan snapped at her like a caged animal.

The woman stared at her with a look of empathy, then stood from her chair and walked to the kitchen area, ignoring her questions. She put the kettle on the stove, then turned on the burner and walked back to the chair to sit once again.

Jordan was growing impatient as she studied the woman. She looked to be at least eighty or ninety. She had long white, grey hair that was full of waves and followed the contour of each side of her face. Her eyes were large and dark chocolate like her own. The woman’s face was weathered and a caramel color with deep crow’s feet at the edge of her eyes. She had deep wrinkles in her cheeks and around her mouth, but you could see that she was still very beautiful for her age and must have been in her younger days.

Jordan thought she would try to approach the woman differently. In her softest voice she asked again, “Where am I?”

She watched the old woman smile and then say, “Where you belong child.” The woman took a breath and placed her hands on her lap. “You have been missing for so many years.” She said in the most softest voice that crackled in the slightest way.

Jordan shook her head not understanding her words. “Missing? Who are you?” She asked giving the woman a confused frown.

The woman leaned into Jordan and took her hands into her own. They were old, weathered and fragile. She finally looked up into Jordan’s eyes and said, “I’m Mama Crone, your maternal grandmother.”

Jordan pulled her hands away from the woman abruptly and shook her head. She could feel herself become enraged at the woman’s words. “You are not my maternal grandmother. My family was slaughtered by the Kodiaks when I was a child. You are a Kodiak.” Jordan hissed the words at the woman.

The woman’s smile turned somber and she said, “Enlighten an old woman would you?” She smiled again and said, “Lift up your shirt please so I can see the left area beside your belly button.”

“What! No!” Jordan retorted.

“We both know what is there child.”

“You could of looked while I was sleeping.” Jordan said arching an eyebrow.

“I don’t have to look honey, I know it’s there because I have one just like you.” The woman pulled up her shirt revealing her stomach.

Jordan’s eyes were wide like saucers when she looked at the raised scars of four small claw marks that were colored pink just like her mark. She raised her head looking at the woman confused again. Jordan finally pulled up her shirt and looked down at her mark and then again at the woman’s. “I don’t understand. How is that possible?” Jordan asked.

“That my dear is the sign of the Kodiak.” The woman smiled again like she had just won a chess game. “A true Kodiak is always born with the mark.”

Jordan raked her hand through her hair again and shook her head. None of this made sense to her and she was becoming extremely agitated. She stood and started pacing the floor and then turned to the woman. “I was not born with this mark. It only just appeared a few months ago.” Jordan barked. “Are you trying to say I’m a Kodiak?”

The woman stood and walked to where Jordan was standing. She grabbed her hands in her own and said, “Yes, you are of royal blood child. The top of the Kodiak pack. Only Kodiak bloodlines carry the mark.” The woman’s hand came up and cupped the side of Jordan’s cheek. “I understand your confused. You have been gone for 14 years. We are not going to hurt you. I want you to know the truth, all of it. You need to understand what truly happened that day.” She said and then paused. “Give us a chance and if you still don’t believe us, if you truly believe you are not a Kodiak, I will have Asher bring you back to Anchorage.” The woman said raising an eyebrow. “Does that sound fair?”

Jordan’s head was spinning and so many thoughts were racing through her head. Nothing made sense and she didn’t know who to trust or what was the truth. She had no explanation as to why the woman wore the same mark on her body as she did. Jordan looked into the woman’s eyes, trying to find any deception within their depths, but all she saw was sincerity, sadness and love. She saw nothing that indicated the woman wanted to harm her, besides, the men that had taken her would have done that already if that is what they’re intentions were.

“Alright. I will stay and then I want to be brought back to Anchorage in the morning.” She whispered, almost doubting her decision.

She watched the woman close her eyes and smile. When she opened them again she said, “Come...sit down, there is much to tell.

Chapter 2

Jordan sat at the small kitchen table and watched the old woman make her a cup of tea. She took the cup and thanked her for it and then watched her grab a photo from the little hutch that was against the wall in the small living room. The woman handed it to Jordan. “Look at this photo. Does anything look familiar to you?”

Jordan laid her tea cup down on the table and took the picture from her. She looked at it carefully, studying the people within the picture. Her eyes fell on a woman with long blond hair, medium build with the most beautiful chocolate doe shaped eyes she had ever seen. Her eyes shifted to the two young girls that were hugging the woman’s waist. They looked so small beside her, with their long blond locks and cute little smiles. Then at last her eyes went to the large man that stood next to the woman. He had to have been well over six foot with dark brown hair. He was a very large man with wide shoulders, but his face looked wise, his smile friendly, inviting and his eyes were a crystal blue with some green in them like her sister’s.

Jordan looked up at the old woman and another sharp pain shot through her head. The picture fell from her hand and she grabbed her head and closed her eyes, and everything went dark.

Too many visions were flooding her memory. Jordan could see the events play out like she was there and it was happening now.

Two blond girls playing tag and people all around them, then a voice.

“Come here girls, they want to take a picture to add to our heritage album.”

“But mom, we’re suppose to meet the boys and play!”

“Jordan, no buts! Now come here. You too Sonja.” The woman said smiling.

Her eyes flipped open, her body was trembling and she looked down at the picture on the floor that now had a crack in the glass. She picked up the frame and looked at the woman in the picture with tears welling up in her eyes. She had so many emotions running through her that she didn’t know what to say. She went to open her mouth but nothing came out. She finally said, “This is my family isn’t it?”

“Yes it is.”

“They were so beautiful and they looked so happy. I really could never remember what they looked like. Only in my dreams, that horrible day.” Jordan said with a blank expression. She finally looked at the old woman and said, “This doesn’t prove anything. You could have taken this picture after my family was slaughtered.” She whispered, wiping a tear away from her cheek.

The woman sat straight up in her chair and thought for a moment. “Jordan, why don’t you tell me what you remember, these dreams you speak of. Maybe I can fill in the missing pieces for you.”

She laid the picture down on the table and stood. She walked over to a window and looked out. “They’re not happy memories. I was around 7 years old I think. Me and my sister were sent to gather firewood. It was cold...winter time. We heard the screams coming from the main village and when we ran back everything was on fire...everyone was dead.” She said in a ragged voice.

“That’s all you remember? That can’t be it. It’s impossible.”

“I remember calling to mama and papa, but also calling them Alpha and then finding their bodies.”

“You have no earlier memories of your childhood? With your parents, your sister or friends? Asher or Declan?” The woman asked in a puzzled voice.

Jordan turned around looking at the woman. “I did have a vision a little over a week ago when I was to be mated with Jude. I watched as two young girls shifted into beautiful white wolves...then two older boys that came into the clearing, they shifted into black panthers and we all ran off to play.”

The old woman stood and walked over to Jordan. “Honey, that vision was an old memory of you and Sonja. You both took after your mother’s dominate animal which is a white wolf. The boys, those are Asher and Declan and there dominate species are black panthers. The four of you used to play in the forest together almost every day. You were all inseparable.” She smiled squeezing Jordan’s arm and then said, “Come, sit with me.”

Jordan followed her to the tattered brown couch and sat down beside her.

“Let me tell you a story. We Kodiaks have lived on Kodiak Island for centuries. Most wolves are afraid of us because of all the urban legends. They say we want complete control, to wipe out all other wolves leaving only the Kodiaks. We are capable of doing that, if that is what we chose to do, however it’s not. Our abilities are not only being able to shift into any form, but to speak to one another telepathically and to suppress other shifters. Meaning we could have them either stay in their human form or animal form...locking them up forever in either body.” She paused and took a breath. “Your father, my first born son, Atticus Raven was a great man. A very wise leader and Alpha of the Kodiak pack for decades. He was the Alpha of Alaska. We thrived and lived in harmony. Your father didn’t have an ounce of hatred that ran through his veins. He did what was necessary when it was necessary, but only when needed. Lennox Warren was his second in command for the Anchorage territory. Lennox would often come to Kodiak Island begging your father to arrange for you and Sonja to mate with his two sons when the time came. Your father instantly refused. It was never done before. It broke all Kodiak laws.”

Jordan frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“Our heritage... Kodiak heritage forbids anyone of us to mate with other shifters that do not carry the Kodiak bloodline. It would be considered tainted. There are many reasons, many that I won’t go into right now, but it has never been done.” The woman stood and started pacing the floor. “When Atticus refused for the last time, Lennox became enraged, he wanted his bloodline to have our powers, our abilities because they are not our equals. He wanted control. Lennox has a dark side to him, one that my son, your father later learned about.” She said.

“After the last argument between them, Lennox hadn’t returned to Kodiak Island for almost 2 years. You are correct. You were 7 years old when it happened.” She whispered. Jordan watched the woman’s hand go to her mouth like she was suddenly frightened. “The day before the slaughter, 40 or 50 of our pack members went into Anchorage for the night to gather supplies. They always did that once every few months and it gave them a little vacation away from Kodiak, the seclusion of the island. Cyprus, his boys and many others were already gone out on a fishing excursion. There had to have been five or six boats that were gone for about four days before they returned.” She said now facing Jordan.

Jordan watched her sit in a chair across from her. Tears were rolling down her cheeks as she started to finish the story. “When Lennox and his pack arrived early in the morning, they disabled many that lived on the edges of the Island in order to get to the heart of Kodiak. They used Yellow Wolfsbane to disable us...paralyze many of us. It was their only way to defeat us. I watched them slaughter hundreds of us... Lennox slaughter my son, your mother!” She yelled. “When I woke hours later, it was Cyprus that found me on the edge of Kodiak Island. By then most had perished, everything burnt to the ground and what still stood, was still burning. We looked everywhere for you two, but you were gone. Soon after we sent men to try and find you and your sister, but we still couldn’t find you. So we focused on rebuilding what little we had left. Out of almost a thousand, we were left with a little over a hundred Kodiaks.”

Jordan sat staring at the woman wide eyed. “No...It can’t be.” Jordan whispered. Her heart raced and her hands started to shake. “Why? Why would Lennox do that?”

“To steal the two most powerful Kodiaks. You and Sonja.” She whispered.

Chapter 3

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T
he room was silent for a long time and Jordan sat there on the couch trying to connect the dots. She had been told her entire life that Lennox was the Alpha and that her father, Atticus Raven was the second in command for the Anchorage, Alaska territory. If this was the truth, that meant that she and her sister have been living with the enemy for over 14 years. Panic consumed her instantly and she could feel her body start to shake.

“Jesus Christ! If what your telling me is true then that means Sonja is in danger!” Jordan stood up and paced the floor. There were so many things that she still couldn’t understand and probably wouldn’t for a long time. She raked a hand through her long blond hair and turned to the woman that claimed to be her grandmother. “I have to go back. I have to leave now!”